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Erbil, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish forces of the Peshmerga found three mass graves of Yezidi victims in the northern countryside of Shingal area, north Iraq, following the withdrawal of the Islamic State militants.

A source from the Peshmerga command told ARA News that the recently found mass graves contained more than 70 corpses of Yezidi victims, including women and children, “who have been buried by IS militants after being summarily executed in northern Shingal”.

“After our (Peshmerga) forces liberated the northern parts of Shingal, we discovered those mass graves,” the source said. “We are still searching the area to reveal the remnants of the barbaric crimes committed by Daesh (IS).”

The dead bodies of the Yezidi victims were moved by the Peshmerga to a graveyard in Shingal in a funeral ceremony attended by the Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechervan Barzani, and some Yezidi officials.

Speaking to ARA News, Yezidi politician Fatih Aziz said: “This is a new evidence on the Yezidi tragedy caused by Daesh terrorists. Finding those mass graves has depended our pain.”

“Yezidis are exposed to all kinds of brutal practices by radical Islamists for their Kurdish ethnic affiliation and their religious believes,” he said.

Thousands of Yezidis are still held by the radical group; most of them are women who have been taken by IS militants as sex slaves.